Shining Darkness
Chapter 1: Prologue: Jack's Arrival
Oh man, I remember very well the day that I had first arrived in Equestria. Man, was it a weird experience for me. I seriously could not understand one thing they were saying. They were speaking like some kind of backwards ass language and I had not the slightest clue how to decipher it. I never had felt more out of place in my entire life, I mean this was a world ruled by magical talking ponies where dragons and all kinds of crazy things exist. Then, the big white one, with a flowing mane, with a sun tattoo on her rear, shot me with a laser, and that turned out to be a magical spell that allowed me to understand their language and them to understand mine. Her name was Celestia. Thank god they did that, or else I would never have managed to do anything in their world.
I, of course being confused as all hell, asked what I was even doing in Equestria. Celestia did not know at all. She had simply told me I had appeared in the throne room of the Castle after my unconscious body fell from a portal. Anyways, after she told me what exactly happened, as far as she knew, I introduced myself. My name at the time was Jack, a name that my parents gave me. I lived by that name for approximately eighteen years of my life. These days, I'm of course known as Noctis, a name I gave myself about a couple months after I came to Equestria, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Anyways, my life style was very different until I met Luna and had a chance to speak with her. I was a simple guy. I managed to pick up a job at a doughnut shop in the city called Canterlot. Canterlot was like the heart of the whole kingdom. It was a simple time. I managed to work hard enough to afford an apartment in the cheaper side of Canterlot, and that was all I needed. Sure, I didn't feel like I was home, and didn't feel that way until a long time after, but it was a start.
The Doughnut shop was a very nice place to work, I have to say. For my week of employment, it was interesting to see how things worked in Equestria. I learned the behavioral patterns of this race of creatures from simply working there. It gave me the perfect opportunity to observe and learn. I tried talking to some of them, every once and a while, but they never really cared about me, just what I was. It started and ended the same way with every single pony I talked to back then. Since I was a human, they just pestered me about it. It was so annoying, I swear, I could have punched them all to my heart's content.
Let's go back a bit, and revisit the events of my first day in Equestria though. After I left the castle, I had nowhere to go. I was lost in this strange new world, and had no one that cared about me. So I decided to just spend my time wandering. I explored the beautiful city streets of Canterlot. It was all so nice and homey. Canterlot seemed like a really nice place and I didn't think bad about it at all. The ponies that inhabited the place were lively, the buildings were elegant, and everything just seemed, comfortable. Unfortunately for me though, I didn't have a home, or friends, or family here. I had managed to find a sizable box near a doughnut shop, and I simply spent the night there.
When the owner came out to lock up, he noticed his box had been moved, and as he picked it up to put it back in its rightful place, he was shocked to find me, inside. Trust me, I freaked out, and it must have woken up half of the neighborhood. Anyways, the shop's owner was a simple stallion named Doughnut Joe. To this day, the Equestrian naming system puzzles me. But I digress. Doughnut Joe was really kind to me, and allowed me to sleep over at the shop for the night.
When I woke up the next day, Doughnut Joe stroke again, and offered me a job. He pitied me, for I was homeless and was lost in this world. I loved the guy like I did my own father. Doughnut Joe was my father figure for those few days. I loved working at his shop and he gave me pretty good pay, which of course, I managed to buy my own place with. He and I bonded so well. He took me all around Canterlot and even took me fishing a couple of times. He and I would just talk out our problems at the shop when business was slow. The time I spent with him reminded me so much of the time I spent with my old man. My real father died of cancer back in the human world a year before I got tangled up in this mess in Equestria. Heh, look where I am now. Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back again.
However, tragedy didn't take long to follow me into this world to. After about a week of working at the shop, Doughnut Joe was found murdered in his home. That drove me to an extreme depression, especially because he and I were so close, as if we knew each other for years. So because of the death of Doughnut Joe, I was again without friends and family. Although I only knew him for a short amount of time, I can say I knew him very well. To this day, I still love the guy for all that he did for me. Without him, I surely would not have managed to be lucky enough to have met Luna.
So after the shop was closed down due to Joe's death, I simply roamed the Canterlot streets in sadness. I neglected to speak to anyone, even if they seemed genuinely interested, because I knew that as soon as I got my point across, they would simply kill the conversation, or move on to talking about what I am. Ponies and people are similar in one way, at least, they are all so predictable.
Author's Notes:
Incomplete as of 3/20/2014